ObamaCare and Medicare

An ad put together by Dick Morris for the League of American voters. Morris is Bill Clinton’s campaign manager from 1996. I’ve always regarded him as 80% bovine droppings artist and only 20% shrewd political analyst, but I think this is a highly effective ad. The elderly are quickly becoming aware that any cost savings in regard to ObamaCare are going to be wrung out of medicare. As a lifelong Republican, I also find it hilarious that Democrats, Democrats!, are coming a cropper on medicare. Payback may not be an angry female dog, but it is rarely pleasant for the recipient.

2 Responses to ObamaCare and Medicare

Douthat wrote a good column on this, although his advice was that the Republicans should be more cautious in playing the anti-Medicare-cost-savings role. I think I agree with him that it’s a “win the battle, lose the war” type move for Republicans.

First, there’s been a lot of snide commentary over the last month about people telling congressmen to “keep your government hands off my Medicare” and whatnot, with the implication being that grandpa doesn’t realize Medicare is a government program. What the comments seem to suggest, however, is a fear on the part of seniors that creating new government health care entitlements elsewhere will result in cutbacks on Medicare, which is precisely what Obama is in fact proposing. There may be more artful ways to express that fear in a sentence, but saying “keep your government hands off my Medicare” is not such a bad way of putting it.

Second, I know a lot of people on the left (and on the right) view the public option as a step closer to single payer. But if Medicare is any indication the opposite is true. If the government hadn’t adopted Medicare and Medicaid in the midsixties we’d probably of had some sort of universal health care system years ago. As it is seniors are one of the major obstacles to expanding coverage.